The Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce says Jefferson City and Cole County have seen an anticipated economic return of more than $667,000 in 2015.
At the City Council meeting Monday, the chamber presented its annual economic development report, which also is scheduled to be presented to the Cole County Commission on Wednesday. The chamber receives $185,000 from the city and $150,000 from the county for economic development services.
Randy Allen, chamber president and CEO, said the anticipated economic return consisted of looking at existing business expansions throughout the last several years and calculating the contributing sales and property taxes from those expansions, as well as looking at overall wage growth in the community.
Allen said the chamber spent 59 percent of its budget, or $517,909, on economic development, with the remaining 41 percent, or $365,721, being spent on chamber activities. Allen specifically noted the city and county contribution paid for $335,000 of that economic development spending, while the rest came from the chamber's own income.
Missy Bonnot, economic development director for the chamber, said 26 projects were worked on in 2015, with four site visits throughout the year and two announced projects.
Those projects include Continental Commercial Products (CCP), which announced in April 2015 it would relocate its Bridgeton operations to Jefferson City, taking over the old R.R. Donnelley facility on Industrial Drive. CCP is expected to create up to 200 jobs with a $16 per hour average wage.
"This is probably the fastest economic development project in history," Bonnot said of the CCP project, as the chamber received the project in January 2015 and it was announced in April. "They don't do anything slow."
The Special Olympics Missouri Training for Life campus was the other announced project for Jefferson City in 2015. The campus will be built on a 15.5-acre site near U.S. 54 and Missouri 179 that was donated by Land Investments.
"This will be the largest U.S. training campus for individuals with intellectual disabilities," Bonnot said.
Bonnot profiled two other projects the chamber pursued that were ultimately unsuccessful. One was a German auto supplier that eliminated Jefferson City because of an "unfavorable shape" to the site and not enough room to expand. Bonnot noted the project was ultimately put on hold and has not moved forward.
The other project was a stamping and metal manufacturer that eliminated Jefferson City as the site and building didn't fit their specific needs.
Shaun Sappenfield, existing business manager at the chamber, said there were four announced expansions in 2015, which will create 204 jobs and $6.1 million in payroll. The announced expansions include Alpla, Scholastic, Sonoco and Wipro.